SOE banquet loss no gift for industry

A State-owned building material company in Beijing used to host annual conferences for officials, employees and clients not just in Beijing, but often flew guests to Yunnan or Fujian provinces, costing about 2 million yuan each time, according to the firm's public relations manager.

This year they canceled such trips and held a conference call with staff and clients in other cities, the manager said.

The cooling of SOE enthusiasm for gala receptions could spell trouble for event planners and posh hotels.

Ke, an event planner in Beijing, told Xinhua that orders for annual conferences had plummeted this year, especially from SOEs, who used to be their major source of business around New Year.

"It is an open secret in our business that SOE annual conferences were the most profitable as they are not price-sensitive, but now the party is over," Ke said.

A similar story was told in Shanghai. Banquets have fallen off by more than 50 percent, mainly because of falling orders from SOEs, according to Jin Peihua of the Shanghai Restaurant and Cooking Association.

The manager of a high-end hotel in Shanghai lamented that the time of reaping handsome profits from year-end dinners has come to an end.

"Even for those SOEs who held year-end dinners, they have turned price-sensitive. One or two years ago, a table of food and beverages would normally cost 7,000 to 8,000 yuan. This year, it costs less than 1,000 yuan as they started to use group buying," he said.

The remarkable fall in SOE receptions caught event planners and hotels by surprise, and might bring bankruptcy to some. Yu of East China Normal University suggests that companies and hotels do more to cater to the demands for investment activities, road shows and wedding banquets.